Silverwing Training: Subsurface Scattering in Octane

A detailed overview of the things to keep in mind when using SSS with Octane.
0:00 Introduction
1:00 What is SSS / Absorption
3:50 Analogy how to work with SSS in Octane
6:40 Preparing SSS in C4D Octane
13:00 Color in SSS
21:20 (Bitmap) Texturing SSS
24:30 Don´t forget your surface shading (even with SSS)
26:25 Closing thoughts
I hope you enjoy!

[@chillsoft]

I understood nothing of the SSS workflow, but you just beautifully explained every aspect - and in such a good maner as well! Thank you so much for taking your time to make this!!

[@cobaltBlu72]

Wunderbar. The best octane SSS tutorial I have seen. The only surprise I have run into after this tutorial was how diffuse and GI clamp kernel settings have a big impact in the results depending on how much HDRI vs direct lighting is used. Thank you very much.

[@pixelasm]

welcome back raphael and thanks for sharing your tipps and background info on SSS

[@MichaelTilson]

Outstanding presentation. Thank you for sharing the insight.

[@delizade]

Perfect explaination about the topic. Thank you.

[@gillesker]

Super useful. Really interesting to simplify the whole process, thanks.

[@beMOTIONdESIGN]

This has to be the best explanation for SSS in Octane that I've seen! Thank you for this!

[@SilverwingVFX]

Thank you for your nice comment. I very much appreciate it!

[@fabricated.memories4]

Raphael you are the man! I am watching this I think 3th time. very well explained

[@SilverwingVFX]

Thank you very much. Apreciate it!. P.s. can´t be that well explained if you had to watch it three times already ha ha ☺

[@cemgulpunk]

now 2021 it's still very informative happy new year.

[@3D-PHASE]

Danke Raphael. Wieder was gelernt.

[@babysteps1]

The man! Raphael does the biz...again

[@voodoorampager]

Ty Raphael! very cool!

[@alejandroherradagonzalez8837]

Thanks a Lot! Great Tutorial!

[@SilverwingVFX]

Thank you. Much appreciated!

[@Akrafes]

Aside from really very wel explained concept. I have to give it up for the really really great hdr man. Bravo. I want that HDR. I want that as a default surface for every and all of my workflows.

[@SilverwingVFX]

Hi there and thank you very much for your nice comment. You are lucky. The HDRI can be downloaded for free from Maxime Rozes website maximeroz.com/hdri Its the Interior free pack! I hope you enjoy :-)

[@Akrafes]

@@SilverwingVFX I was just creating one in c4d right now. Also thinking what else do I need to improve it. Thanks alot. Thumbs up 100%

[@Akrafes]

@@SilverwingVFX Oh so, the ground mat is not HDRI (just checked the hdri packs and Couldnt see the measurements.)

[@SilverwingVFX]

@@Akrafes No, that is a actual surface I used :-) You can download this here. Its for Cycles4D but it includes the texture I used. Depending on what render engine you are using you can use a gradient / remapping to get the tonality of the texture similar to what I had in the video. behance.net/gallery/45235117/FREEBIE-SMALL-CYCLES-4D-MATERIAL-LIBRARY

[@vitaslam7411]

thank you for this.

[@SilverwingVFX]

You very welcome!

[@fabiantomac1772]

Becourse. Great Tut

[@sikliztailbunch]

Meanwhile you can actually color the individual volumetric areas by creating an additional fog volume with the volume builder. Then you can for example use a noise to color the volume additionally to the subsurface material of the original object or even use fields to create custom fog volumes.

[@botondben]

Lot of valuable information here. Thanks for the tut! I wonder how my size of the scene influence the sss behaviour. I had issues when my scene was 1:1 scale to real life like a 2m marble statue and the sss didn't work well. While I was scale the scene up to like 10 times larger than real world (like a 20m statue) the sss worked nicely on my marble material. why is that and how to handle theese situations when I would like to stay in real world scale and have a nice sss at the same time? Thanks a lot!

[@SilverwingVFX]

Hey Botond and thank you for your comment. The size and the density of the sss / absorption relate. If you scale your object up by a factor of two, you get the same sss result by halving the density value. Note that a shader is always tied to the objects scale. Meaning if you scale the object by the axis and and it shows a scale of 2, then the shader will still act as if it was its original size. If you however either apply the scale, so your object is still twice as big but shows a scale of 1, then the shader acts like the object is double the size. In the case of your statue if it looked good to you when scaled up x10 then you should get the same SSS look by leaving it at 2m (instead of 20m) and setting the density x10 of your original value. Small side node, make sure you have a value Ray Epsilon for your scale. This can effect your SSS too. kzbin.info/www/bejne/pZrHoomIlJh4ZpY

[@botondben]

I see it now! Thanks for making it crystal clear! Somehow octane sss always bugged me. Thank you for your thorough explanation I really appreciate it! wish you All the best

[@byninjafx]

Wow ein Tutorial von dir. Das kann ja nur gut werden. Bist du dieses Jahr wieder bei der IBC für Maxon?

[@SilverwingVFX]

I answer in english sh everyone will understand: Thanks for the comment. I hope you like the tut! Unfortunately I am not at IBC this year. I will be at the Maxon Usermeeting in Cologne, Hamburg and Munich this year explaining in a 2h presentation how to shade a couple of different materials via some real world examples. And how to get them as close to the real ones as possible.

[@byninjafx]

Raphael is the Usermeeting presentation going to be available online too?

[@SilverwingVFX]

I think this Year is the first Year they record the event. Not sure where they publish it. Or if its just a live stream. Its german only though.

[@simontrickfilmer]

I wish a Training about "Image Color Profile" and "Tonemap Type". My renderings looks alwys different in Photoshop.